Pelicans lead most of the way but lose in the end at Cavs

The New Orleans Pelicans defended well all night Monday and led much of the way on the road against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.

In the end, New Orleans came up short, failing when it mattered most in a 93-90 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Cleveland closed the game on a 15-6 run in the final five minutes of the game to pull out the victory.

Trailing 92-90, Jonas Valanciunas missed a shot to tie it underneath the basket with one second to play in the game which would have tied it. Lamar Stevens split a pair of free throws with less than a second left to account for the final margin.

Jaxson Hayes got his first start of the season and scored 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting and had seven rebounds with three blocks in one of his best all-around games of the season and of his career.

Rookie Herb Jones really struggled, going 0-for-7 from the field, scoring just three points.

Devonte Graham finished with 20 points but was just 3-of-11 from 3-point range. Valanciunas returned to the lineup after being out for the last four games with health and safety protocols and he scored 16 points with nine rebounds. Josh Hart had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Once again, the gang who cannot shoot straight failed to shoot it well enough to win.

The Pelicans shot just 38.8 percent from the field and were miserable from 3-point range, per usual, sinking just 6-of-30 (20%) of their attempts.

In their last four games, New Orleans is just 28-of-118 (23.7%) from 3-point range. The Pelicans failed to reach 100 points for the second straight game.

New Orleans led much of the way, largely due to defense and rebounding as the Pelicans won the battle of the boards in decisive fashion at 51-37 and the Pelicans had 16 second chance points to just five for the Cavaliers.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Pelicans, who have hit the wall, particularly offensively without Brandon Ingram.

Now at 18-32, the Pelicans get no rest before playing at Detroit Tuesday night.

New Orleans continues to compete well and play hard for Willie Green. Without Ingram, tjhe Pelicans simply lack the firepower needed to win games on any consistent basis in the NBA.